Melvin Gordon takes risk by attending minicamp while seeking new contract

Melvin Gordon will enter the 2019 season playing on his fifth-year option. Although, Gordon is currently seeking a new contract from the Los Angeles Chargers as he will become an unrestricted free-agent after this season. 

Despite Melvin Gordon looking for a new contract, he reported to Chargers mandatory minicamp on Wednesday.

Gordon’s arrival of reporting to minicamp may catch many by surprise as we’ve seen many holdouts by other players across the league in similar situations. He’s also taking a large risk in partaking in team activities as an injury is very capable of occurring during that time period.

Gordon isn’t the most durable running back in the sense that he’s sustained a multitude of injuries during his four-year career thus far.

During his time with the Chargers he’s experienced a grade 1 ankle sprain, knee tear, grade 2 PCL sprain, hip sprain, grade 1 thigh and hamstring sprain, and a grade 2 MCL sprain to his knee.

"“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want a deal done,” Gordon told ESPN’s Eric Williams. “But that’s not going to stop me from coming out here and doing what I need to do. We’re going to see. I would like to go out there and have it done."

Gordon skipped the voluntary work earlier in the offseason program, but felt it was important to attend minicamp. However he never clarified if he would holdout once training camp starts.

Gordon has averaged just over 12 touchdowns over his last three seasons, but has only played all 16 games one time. He’ll certainly need to show the Chargers he is durable in order for them to hand him a nice payday.

There’s no doubt Gordon is one of the key enforcers to the Chargers offense, but the real question is do they want to handout a long-term contract to a running back who has experienced injuries in his past?

The former first-round pick is highly effective in both the run game and the pass game, but the current blueprint across the league is to not commit a large salary to the running back department.

Running backs have a small window of their ‘prime’. With that said, the Chargers may also be looking at the contracts that the Los Angeles Rams and Arizona Cardinals gave Todd Gurley and David Johnson.

Both Gurley and Johnson haven’t been the same player since signing their massive deals, and that could be a reflection of why the Chargers are holding off for now.

Gordon will make $5.6 million in his final year under contract, but it appears the Chargers are willing to play the waiting game with their two-time Pro Bowl running back.